


Planeswardens: Shenanigans in Space

by Raaj



Series: Planeswardens [1]
Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, keep in mind all but Ringabel are AUs, since BD is a fertile ground for AUs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24156610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raaj/pseuds/Raaj
Summary: Because when you're drawing people from all over the multiverse, some strange things might end up happening.  Oneshots based on the Planeswardens idea, crossposted from tumblr.
Series: Planeswardens [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1743286
Kudos: 10





	1. A Reunion Gone Awry

Agnès blinked past the blood trailing into her right eye and stared up at the snake that had encircled Luxendarc, feeling numb. So this was the ruin she had brought on the world. All the teachings about the crystals, lies: they had brought damnation instead of salvation. All of Airy’s promises, lies: the fairy had changed into a twisted monster and attacked them at the Holy Pillar. Tiz and Edea had forced her to retreat into the pillar–into another world, the fairy had claimed–but now Tiz lay dead, and Edea had vanished with Airy in the light, and it was all her fault…!

And now a snake darkened the world’s horizon, as if ready to swallow it up. After the difficult fight with Airy, Agnès already knew there was no way she could face this monster. Not on her own.

Not on her own…she touched her pendant for one last reassurance, and then had a wild hope. Sometimes the pendant had brought help–from other worlds? Or times? Whatever they were, they had been help. They had not been false.

The snake lazily circling the world cracked open one eye that must have been as long as an island. Agnès brought up her hands to pray one final time, clutching the pendant tightly.

“Whoever you are, wherever you are…”

Perhaps she could summon an echo of Tiz. Perhaps she could bring back Edea.

Something in the air shifted; Agnès could feel a pressure bearing down on her. As though the circle had closed somewhat. She shook…it was such a powerful presence.

The pendant had only ever brought one person at a time. It had been enough before. It would not be now.

She would have to make it enough. She would have to make it bring more.

“Please…hear my prayer…” The pressure was increasing. She poured all her energy into the pendant. Urging it to awaken, not knowing if it even could. It was not one of the four crystals, after all. She knew not why it possessed the strange ability it did. But if there was even the smallest possibility that it could bring enough help, she would make it so.

“I am Agnès Oblige, vestal to the crystals, and I have failed, but this world does not deserve destruction!”

She would have given her life to save it. She still would. Her heart was pounding as the pressure bore down on her even more, a distant but huge roar growing closer. The snake was coming. The snake was coming to devour the world, and she would be one small morsel on its tongue. She opened her eyes to stare up at the impossible sight of a snake as big as the world bearing down on her, its mouth gaping open.

“Bring this world its warriors of light!” she screamed, barely hearing herself above the deafening roar of the world’s end.

Beneath the roar, beneath her scream, there was a third sound she sensed more than heard. Her hands suddenly pulsated with pain as a blue light shot out from between her folded fingers, splitting the sky. Steel, gleaming and curved and huge, suddenly blocked her view of the snake’s maw.

And after that…Agnès could not say. The pressure and blood loss grew too much, and she blacked out.

* * *

She wasn’t dead.

That was the first thing she knew.

She wasn’t dead, and someone was dabbing her hands with potion. It was the mushroom smell that tipped her off, one that had always been peculiar to the medicine.

She sobbed before she could even think to stop herself. The snake had been stopped. Help had come. She hadn’t damned Luxendarc. Against all odds, someone strong enough had appeared.

But her crying must have alarmed the person nursing her wounds, because the light touches suddenly stopped, even as they cradled her hand more firmly. "Agnès? I’m not hurting you, am I?“

Her eyes flew open at the voice. "Tiz?” In the next moment, her heart broke and she was ready to apologize–the coloring of his hair and the eye she could see was right, but the fringe was too long and he looked strangely older–but then he smiled at her, and it was so much _Tiz_ that she was certain. “Tiz!” She sat up to hug him; her head was left spinning at the suddenness of the movement, but that only made her more determined to hold on. She didn’t want to let go. "You’re alive… Thank goodness, thank… I thought you had died.“

Tiz hugged her in return, rubbing her back. "Agnès… listen. Luxendarc is safe now. Airy’s master is dead. You did great.”

Relieving as the news was, Agnès had to protest. "I was the reason it was in danger.“

"Because that damned fairy tricked you,” Tiz argued, and Agnès was so surprised to hear the anger in his voice that she withdrew a little, thinking it aimed at her. But Tiz’s face immediately softened when he saw her fear, and he lifted a hand to pat her hair. "If it hadn’t been you she tricked, it would have been someone else. That Airy was an ageless creature. She would have simply bided her time until there was another vestal or vestaling. Don’t blame yourself. It was all her. And you persisted, even when everything seemed lost.“

"All I did was pray.”

Tiz scoffed, pulling back a little and turning her hands toward herself. "All you did was charge a crystalline core so strongly that you overloaded and shattered it. The readings were apparently going wild when you drew us in.“

Agnès blinked at her hands and the slivers of her blue pendant embedded in her palms. Some had already been removed, leaving marks of skin still red and angry after the potion, but others seemed to be too deep to get out easily. Now she understood why her hands had been hurting. Though Tiz’s words, she did not understand as much. "Drew ‘us’ in…?” She looked around for the others he was referring to…her confusion only grew. They were alone in this room, but the room itself was filled with medical equipment seeming more advanced than even Eternia’s Central Healing Tower. Besides the soft gray walls and the comfortable beds for patients, everything seemed to be gleaming steel, and she immediately thought of the metallic mass she had seen right before blacking out. "Tiz, where are we?“

"This is the battleship of the planeswardens,” he explained, though he seemed to realize instantly that it was not the most helpful explanation. "Um… I don’t know if Airy told you, but her plan involved linking different worlds, you know? Now that they are linked, the planeswardens help to protect all the worlds, across time and space.“

"Of course she told us,” Agnès said. How could Tiz have forgotten that? He had been so angry and distressed when Airy taunted him about another Norende having been destroyed. "She was gloating about it. To hurt you…“

Tiz opened his mouth for an instant and then closed it, apparently second guessing whatever he had been ready to say. "Agnès… what’s most important is that you don’t blame yourself for her evil.”

It was hers, too, for having been a fool. Agnès didn’t say that, knowing Tiz would be upset by it, and she was not sure what else to say when he was withholding something from her. Tiz was not a liar by nature, and she felt like she should know what the issue was, but her head was still too muddled to tease out what was wrong.

After an awkward silence, Tiz fiddled with a small ring on his finger and talked into it, instantly gaining Agnès’ curiosity as she realized he was talking to someone. "Agnès is awake. Limited visitors, let’s _not_ overwhelm her, please.“

” _Dibs! I have dibs!_ “ a girl’s voice tinnily shouted from the ring. ” _And ha, that’s rich of you, Tiz._ “

” _Indeed, Edea,_ “ a man’s voice cut in. ” _Tiz has been keeping Agnès all to himself while she’s been sleeping, and now he wants to do it when she’s awake, too?_ “

"I was treating her,” Tiz ground out, but he was starting to blush hard enough to reach the tips of his ears. Agnès was fascinated by the sight he made, but didn’t really note the accusation that had been made against him. Her mind had stopped processing anything after the confirmation that Edea was present on the ship as well. "…I suppose the two of you should be fine. But seriously, take it easy? We need to explain everything to her.“

"Edea’s here…” Agnès sighed. Her heart felt full enough to burst, knowing both her friends had been saved from harm.

There was that strange look on Tiz’s face again, like he wanted to say something, but he eased into a smile. "Mm,“ he said. "I was really happy the first time I saw her here, too.”

And that didn’t sound right either–he sounded genuine, but it wasn’t the emotion that was the problem, it was the phrasing, as if “the first time” might have been a while ago–but Agnès wasn’t allowed much time to think longer on it. There was a thunderous pounding down the hallway running alongside the healing room, and a glimpse of Edea’s blonde hair was all the warning Agnès got before the younger girl jumped on top of her.

“Agnès! Agnès, Agnès, Agnès!”

“…What part of 'don’t overwhelm’…”

Edea did not even pause in affectionately nuzzling her friend as she answered Tiz indignantly. "It’s not overwhelming, it’s making up for lost time, blockhead! You don’t mind, do you Agnès?“

"How long have I been out?” Agnès asked; while she didn’t _mind_ the affection, per se, Edea’s boisterous delight was frazzling. And unexpected in its intensity. "'Lost time’…how much time did I lose?“

"Oh, uh….” Edea hesitating set off alarms in the vestal’s head. Edea was not known for being hesitant. “It’s not just you, you know? Mrgrgr… Tiz, I thought you would have explained _this_ part at least!”

“…Sorry.” Tiz looked aside.

“Perhaps I could explain?” the newcomer at the door was a stranger to Agnès for a few moments, but then she placed his white blond hair and hazel eyes and gasped out loud.

“Alternis Dim!”

He bowed. "At your service, dear Agnès, though I’d prefer you call me 'Ringabel’. You see,“ he continued when she stared at him blankly. "I am Alternis, but considering I’m from a world where Alternis is infinitely more lovable, I’ve had need of a different name to distinguish me from the less adorable dark knights.”

“He’s from bizarro world,” Edea told Agnès. "Don’t worry if you don’t understand him, he doesn’t make sense by default.“

"He’s from _some_ world, anyway,” Tiz said as 'Ringabel’ pouted. "And that’s the thing, Agnès. All the Dimensional Officers are from different worlds. We’ve just happened to be brought together. The worlds have many things in common, and we’ve all known you as a friend, but…“

It still took Agnès a moment to piece it together after Tiz’s words lapsed awkwardly. _"Don’t blame yourself for her evil.”_ Tiz and Edea both looking different from as she’d just seen them, older. Why it had been a long time since they had seen her. They weren’t… "… My friends are dead and gone.“

”…We gave the Tiz of your world a proper burial. He’s resting in peace with his loved ones,“ said the Tiz that wasn’t her friend, while the Alternis who wasn’t Alternis gave him a long side glance. "We didn’t see Edea at all. Did she fall in the Pillar?”

“Yes…”

“Then she may have survived after all,” 'Ringabel’ said, focusing on Agnès again. "After all, that’s how _I_ got my start as Ringabel. Fell through the Holy Pillar into another world, and survived perfectly whole. With, perhaps, a touch of amnesia–but that only helped my mysterious charm!“

"Ugh, Ringabel, you didn’t need to add that part, you’re worrying her,” Edea said grumpily. "Look, Agnès, I’m a lot tougher than him, okay? I’m sure your Edea made it just fine.“

"Is there a way to look for her?” All well and good to think Edea had pulled through with nary a scratch, but Airy had been right beside her. Agnès could not simply take it for granted that–

“Ringabel!! Where did you go?”

It was such a tiny, unthreatening voice, not even calling for her, but Agnès’ heart plummeted so fast and so far, it was like she had been dropped into an icy lake.

Airy.

Tiz was instantly furious. " _She_ is not okay,“ he hissed at Ringabel. "You know that, _she_ should know that–”

“I know, I _know_ ,” Ringabel said instantly, raising his hands placatingly. “She must have thought Agnès was asleep still–Agnès, it’s fine, she’s not the one you knew. ” He didn’t waste a second more in turning out of the room, his hand reaching up to scoop a terribly familiar fairy out of view just as she appeared in the doorway. "AIRY–you have an abominable sense of timing–“

"What is she doing here.” Agnès’ voice was too flat to turn it into a question.

“She’s a planeswarden too,” Edea said, holding onto Agnès’ hands. It no longer felt like a comfort, but a restraint. "Even though some of us don’t really like it. But she really is a different Airy, Agnès–“

”–She’s lying.“

"No, we know she’s different–Airy died, Agnès, Ringabel is one of the Warriors of Light that saw her die–”

“He’s lying. You’re lying.” That was how Airy worked, after all, tricks and lies, and she was still alive and fully capable of manipulating people. Agnès’ mind was spinning wildly now that she realized how complacent she had been. Letting herself think these were her friends, when she had known she’d brought her friends to their dooms. Letting herself think Luxendarc was safe–how could she know? Perhaps it was still in danger, perhaps it was already gone, she kept letting herself be tricked. Her throat choked up with unshed tears, and she tried to yank her hands away from Edea. The girl only held on tighter. "Let go of me!“

"J-just calm down first, all right–?”

“Agnès, please,” Tiz said, reaching out to her. "Airy isn’t going to do anything to you, we’ll make sure–“

"Stop!” She flinched away before his hand could touch her shoulder. "Stop pretending to be my friend!“

His hand stilled instantly, but Edea’s hold on her was firm. Agnès’ struggling grew more desperate and intense as she tried to get away, wanting to be anywhere but here, and then–

She yanked both hands toward her chest, and this time she was strong enough to pull Edea slightly off balance. Her hands touched.

She hissed in pain as the shards of the pendant scraped against her hands and each other.

A blue light appeared, and she was gone.

* * *

She was aware of a period in which she did not have physical form.

She couldn’t speak, or blink, or talk, or move. She couldn’t even see or hear, really. She just was, a loose collection of thoughts that had once been a fool of a vestal.

…

The existential terror kept her frightened for a while, but then she decided that things had been constantly going wrong around her for a long time, even before reaching the Holy Pillar, and if she was the common factor, perhaps it was better she couldn’t be "around”. She would just be. Or not be. Whichever was the case.

…

She had long become bored of not just frightening thoughts, but all her thoughts and herself entirely, when a sudden jerk anchored her back into reality.

“ _Trés magnifique_ , Yew! It worked!”

“Ah! Your Holiness! Hands apart, please. You’ve got some very unstable crystal material that can manipulate time-space on you, and we don’t want to lose you again.”

Agnès stared at the two speakers, a beautiful young woman with silver hair and a boy with brown hair and a pair of reading glasses resting on his nose, absolutely lost as to who they were, or how she was flesh and blood again, for that matter. Though the gleaming metallic sheen of the room gave her some idea where they all were, at least.

The boy blinked at her confusion, and then stammered. "O-oh, right, you haven’t been the pope. Sorry, Lady Agnès. Force of habit. I’m Yew Geneolgia.“

"Magnolia Arch!” the woman called out with a smile.

“…Planeswardens?” Agnès asked faintly. She had no idea why the heir of the Geneolgia family of all people would be out on a ship like this, but clearly life was just not going to make sense anymore.

“ _Exactement_!” Magnolia nodded. "We’ll make sure to explain everything properly this time, Agnès. All we ask is that you stay calm, okay? If you disappear again, the entire ship will be in an uproar. Again.“

"I suppose I don’t want to disappear again, either,” Agnès allowed. And having nothing _but_ her thoughts for that time had given her some opportunity to process them, the initial panic long over. "But I am going to need a very detailed explanation on how Airy is not a lying monster.“

"Of course. Yew, why don’t you take her to the break room to have a seat? And while you start explaining, I’ll make us some tea.”


	2. Spiritual Rehabilitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Planeswarden Tiz adopts an...interesting new charge.

Ringabel knew from the start that Planeswarden Tiz was quite different from the friend he was looking to cure. Not that he wanted the planeswarden counterpart to be an enemy! The distance was on Tiz’s side, with him showing an easy yet cool politeness. Ringabel knew it was in no small part owed to Airy accompanying him–from what he’d been able to gather of Tiz’s background, the younger man had been scarred by her wicked sister, the first Airy, time and again. However, it wasn’t solely that. While Planeswarden Tiz acted as an indulgent big brother to Yew and Magnolia from time to time, there were days that he was quiet, and other occasions where he withdrew entirely, hiding himself away to be alone. Edea was the one to track him down when he was giving everyone the slip; the two weren’t from the same world, but she seemed to understand him best, and it was obvious he was warmest with her, having known the Edea of his world.  
  
Which is why it was very puzzling when Edea requested that _he_ be the one to roust Tiz from his latest retreat. “Please,” she said. Her hands were rubbing her temples. “I can’t deal with this.” She muttered something that Ringabel only barely caught, but his eyes widened immediately.  
  
“‘He’s adopted another one’?” Ringabel repeated. “You mean he’s bringing orphans onboard? That’s–” Compassionate in the best light, but considering the dangerous nature of their work and all the dimensions they crossed, not the wisest course of action.  
  
“What? No. He tends to take orphans to the Caldisla of their world if he can’t find any relations.”  
  
Ringabel snorted despite himself. “I see Tiz has his constants. Then…” No, he was lost now. “What’s the matter? Surely a pet should be fine. If it makes him happy, I would rather he keep it.”  
  
“It’s not a pet.” Edea hunched further in her chair. “I’m not sure you’d believe me if I told you. Can you just visit Tiz in his room? For me, Ringabel?”  
  
“Anything for you, Edea,” Ringabel said automatically. “But I’m surprised you think I’d be best to handle… whatever this is. He doesn’t like me, you know.”  
  
“He doesn’t _dis_ like you,” Edea told him. “Besides, Yew would pass out if I sent him and…I don’t really know how Magnolia would handle this. You’re the safest bet.”  
  
Ringabel puffed up a bit. He was the safest bet! Rare praise. Though he did have to wonder what Tiz had brought aboard to have Edea so out of sorts…  
  
Well, after knocking out the duties he’d been assigned for the day, he swung around to Tiz’s room and knocked on the door. Airy had been left to entertain herself, since Ringabel knew better than to force Tiz to tolerate her presence more than necessary. The boy was slowly accepting that she wasn’t the same horrible monster! …Slowly. Best to let him work through it at his own pace. And Airy knew she could always seek out Magnolia if she wanted company, as the Lunarian quite liked her, even when she was being a brat.  
  
It only took two raps on the door before Ringabel heard Tiz moving about in the room. Quickly, he schooled his expression to make sure there was nothing besides concern on his face. It wasn’t hard to do: it always _was_ a little worrying when Tiz vanished like this.  
  
Tiz hesitated in opening the door, first opening it only partway, then all the way once he’d seen it was Ringabel. Interesting. “Oh, hello, Ringabel.”  
  
“Hello yourself!” Ringabel answered as he stepped in. “I don’t think I’ve seen you in two days.”  
  
He tried to take stock of what he could see of the room without looking away from Tiz and making it obvious this was not just a checkup, but an impromptu inspection. From this view, there was nothing unusual: a neatly made bed, a folding screen Tiz had chosen to get in Yunohana at some point, the small table he used for reading, woodcarving, and other small crafts. Ringabel didn’t see anything unusual, and despite Tiz having adopted… something, he didn’t hear anything, either.  
  
“Sorry, I’ve been busy. Did you need me for something?”  
  
“I can’t want to see my friend?”  
  
The pause that followed marked one of the key differences between the Tiz he had befriended and the Planeswarden in front of him. His Tiz would have become bashful to realize he’d made a wrong assumption about someone’s intentions and likely would have immediately reassured them that of course that was fine! But, the Tiz in front of him seemed only to be weighing whether or not he should correct Ringabel for presuming they were more than coworkers. Ringabel hastened to move the conversation along before he decided.  
  
“So, what are you busy with? You haven’t had a mission since then. Are you working on a new project?” Ringabel looked about to see if there was any evidence of Tiz being in the middle of a craft. Better if he was; handiwork always kept Tiz out of his worst moods. That held true for both the friend he first knew and the Planeswarden in front of him. Nothing stood out at Ringabel, but then again, Tiz actually put things away, unlike him–  
  
Ringabel felt his stomach drop suddenly, only distantly hearing the answer of “Mm, sort of.”  
  
Something was watching him. Closely. He jerked his head to the side to meet green eyes.  
  
They were glass, and they belonged to a porcelain doll with long brown curls. It seemed like an old one: both the blush on her cheeks and the pattern on her dress were a bit faded.  
  
Ringabel felt a fool at first, because even if he hadn’t expected Tiz to be keeping a doll in his room, it was still…startled by a child’s toy? Really?  
  
But then, even as he was watching her, that feeling came back. The nausea in his stomach, the overwhelming sense that something was wrong. He hadn’t gotten to this age as a dark knight by ignoring his instincts. “…Tiz. Why do you have a doll?”  
  
“Because her last owner thought he was cursed for having her in his house.”  
  
It was a straightforward response, but Ringabel had to run it through his mind twice, and then once more, because he couldn’t get it squared away logically. “No, that’s a reason why you _shouldn’t_ have this doll in your room. Why do you have her?”  
  
The air in the room felt like it was curdling with malice. …Had the lights dimmed?  
  
Tiz sighed and folded his arms. “I thought you were a lady charmer? Be polite. And Annalise, I really do want you to stay for as long as you need, but like I said before, I need you to not hurt anyone on the ship.”  
  
Ringabel stared at his friend, wondering what deep end he’d leapt off of to be trying to reason with a cursed object, but after a breathless moment, the pressure in the room eased. Tiz nodded to the doll in satisfaction, and then returned Ringabel’s look with a rather pointed one of his own.  
  
What? Oh. Politeness. Appeasing the dark spirit and all. “My–My apologies, lady, that _was_ rude of me,” he said with a bow. “If Tiz says you’re welcome, you’re welcome,” and hopefully they wouldn’t end up all damned for it. “The name’s Ringabel. And Tiz said you were Annalise? What a lovely name.”  
  
He didn’t know what he could have expected for a response, but the faint giggles of laughter made his skin prickle.  
  
“I think she likes you,” Tiz said, his tone warm with approval.  
  
“What would she do if she didn’t like me!?” Ringabel shot back, though he tried to keep to an undertone. Tiz’s shrug was not reassuring.  
  
“Ah, I upset her earlier by ignoring her too long when Edea came over, so she started rattling the table. She’s been a bit starved for kindness, so sometimes she acts up. It would help if people didn’t assume the worst of her.”  
  
“Well, that’s…” There was nothing Ringabel could say to that, as he realized the logic was nearly the same as he used to argue for Airy not being taken as an enemy. “That’s reasonable. I _am_ sorry.”

* * *

  
“I gave you one job.”  
  
“I’m sorry.”  
  
Ringabel was getting very accustomed to apologizing today. He hid his face in his hands so that he wouldn’t have to see Edea frowning. Edea frowning! At him! His life was a very sorry thing indeed right now.  
  
“Please stop scowling,” he at last felt compelled to say. “I know you don’t like ghosts. I know.” He paused. “I did get him to promise she wouldn’t antagonize Airy.” Because Tiz had apparently asked Annalise to not harm anyone who lived on the ship–good–but neglected to tell her that Airy was one of its number–bad. Not altogether surprising, but bad.  
  
“…I think Airy could handle a haunted doll, Ringabel.”  
  
“I am the first person that will say Airy’s reformed, but she originated from the depths of hell. Do you want to see what would get caught in the crossfire if those two both lost their temper?”  
  
Edea acknowledged the merit of that concern with a little toss of her head. “Okay, yeah, better you nipped that in the bud.” She was still frowning, though. “Ugh, why does he have to do things like this?! How am I supposed to visit him when he keeps picking up haunted things?!”  
  
“You say he’s done this before–why haven’t you gone to the Vice-President about this?”  
  
“Oh, the Vice-President’s no help on this,” Edea said sourly. “He thinks it’s _interesting_ and says he wants to see the results of Tiz’s 'alternative exorcism’.” She rolled her eyes.  
  
“So he and Tiz are both agreed that there’s no serious danger if she does turn out malevolent.” Tiz had been rather nonchalant about the possibility of the doll trying to hurt him. Probably because he’d already survived Airy twice.  
  
Edea flung up her hands. “ _Sure_ , yeah, Tiz could probably take her even if she tried to surprise him, but maybe I would rather my friends don’t get hurt unnecessarily!”  
  
Ringabel opened his mouth to console her, reassure her that Tiz would be safe and commiserate with her about him being inconsiderate of his friends’ feelings anyway, when suddenly, there was a scream. Edea and he were both halfway out of their seats in a flash, but then the screamer started yelling “SIR! WHY? WHY???” They both paused.  
  
“Sounds like Yew found the doll.”  
  
“Indeed. He’s going to rile her up if he doesn’t calm down soon.”  
  
After enough time spent around Yew, you tended to pick up which shrieks were him being startled and which were actually cries of pain, so they kept an ear out but sat back in their seats. The screaming continued.  
  
“She must be having a lot of fun with him…” Edea did not seem eager to stop the doll from bullying Yew. It would have entailed confronting the doll herself.  
  
Finally, the commotion ended. It only took another minute for Yew to hurry past their table, unharmed, though when he saw Edea he yelled hoarsely, “You could have _warned_ me!”  
  
“You would have had a fit anyway!”  
  
“We need Pope Agnès here,” Yew said firmly. “She’d be able to talk sense into Tiz.”  
  
Ringabel rubbed his chin thoughtfully. It would be nice if Agnès were here…he was sure Tiz would enjoy her company, and he did always want to please her. He knew in this respect, Planeswarden Tiz would surely be the same as any of his other counterparts. The obvious issue was that, thus far, they had not been joined by any version of Agnès. Which made sense–out of all of them, she was the most important personage on Luxendarc. Not exactly one easily spared.  
  
But they could hope for her to one day join them. And if it was soon, well. Perhaps she could make Tiz see reason on the matter of trying to rehabilitate haunted dolls in his room.

* * *

  
When they did finally chance upon Agnès, it turned into a fiasco that resulted in Agnès having no physical form for nearly three weeks. During that time, Ringabel had to hide Airy away until Tiz’s initial fury subsided into a deep depression, which truthfully seemed worse but at least meant there wasn’t bloodshed imminent.  
  
That is, until they realized Annalise had apparently decided she _liked_ Tiz and was not happy about her friend being sad. What a wonderful thing, to know a wayward soul could still care for another. But when Airy started shrieking in fury about the doll writing “tasteless” things about her, only mentioning as an afterthought that they had been written in blood, Edea decided she could put aside her terror of spirits long enough to kick down Tiz’s door and have a talk with both of the room’s inhabitants. It was half a pep talk for Tiz’s sake, half a lecture for Annalise: they were trying to get Agnès back, they would have her back as soon as they could, and even though Airy had caused it, she hadn’t intended to and harassing her wouldn’t help.  
  
The doll seemed to respect Edea enough to settle down after that, and Yew and Magnolia were ingenious enough to realize that the pendant shard Yew had received in his world could perhaps have the same summoning ability as Agnès’ pendant, _if_ they found a way to amplify its energy. Every other mission was put aside to help with this, and in short time Yew had a breakthrough and Agnès was brought safely back, none the worse for her period of incorporeality. …Actually, her responses to things seemed a bit dulled, especially considering what had caused her to disappear in the first place, but they were hoping that that would ease with time and wasn’t a permanent result of trauma. Strangely, her sense of direction noticeably improved. It didn’t take her long to find Tiz’s room, anyway, and she made a habit of visiting it.  
  
There were no signs of Annalise leaving. Ringabel decided to cautiously broach the topic with her. “What do you think of Tiz’s…little friend?” he asked when he caught her at lunch. Edea, still eating her own meal, perked up with interest.  
  
“You mean Annalise?” Agnès asked, tipping her head in question. “I think she’s interesting.”  
  
Edea coughed on her dessert–Ringabel quickly leaned over to give her a thump on the back. “Ack…yeah, 'interesting’ is _one_ word for it.”  
  
“You don’t think it’s a bit unsafe for Tiz to let her stay in his room?” Ringabel asked pointedly. “What if she should have a change in heart?”  
  
Agnès seemed to catch where he was going with this, and frowned at him in disappointment. “You don’t think Tiz knows the risks? And Annalise seems quite calm for a spirit, simply…lonely. And Tiz has given her company.”  
  
“You were not here for the bloody writing,” Edea muttered.  
  
“To be fair, the bloody writing was because she wasn’t here,” Ringabel reminded her, getting a soft elbow in his side for it.  
  
“I think it’s good for both of them,” Agnès mused, having not quite caught their aside. “Tiz is a natural caretaker, but all of us on board are adults, and there’s no room for livestock. How would they graze, anyway? This way, she gets the attention and care that was denied her before, and he gets to help someone.” She let out a rare chuckle. “He always was a meddler.”  
  
Ringabel and Edea exchanged glances with each other. They both had the sinking feeling of defeat. Perhaps they should have remembered sooner that Agnès always had been sympathetic to the undead and lost spirits, seeing them as tragic for being unable to rest in peace and be granted the crystals’ blessing in rebirth.  
  
Annalise had been onboard for a couple months now, and she had both Agnès’ and the Vice-President’s support… it might be time to accept that she was a resident, and resign themselves to the occasional creepy giggle from Annalise and screaming by Yew.  
  
  


* * *

  
Annalise was certainly one odd part of the Planeswarden’s lives, but far from the only one, as Agnès’ introduction and many other misadventures proved. When Ringabel returned to world 5 for the final time, he felt he could quite sympathize now with how his Tiz had always wished for a normal, boring life. The vagabond was ready to settle down himself! It might take some time to cook up the perfect proposal for Edea–he needed to think of something really extravagant and cool, to make his angel feel special and know she had his full attention–but he was glad to say he was finally in a position to make that commitment.  
  
And with his Tiz and Agnès having finally gotten over all their blushing and fluster and being wed, he thought he could pick Tiz’s brain about proposals. Though Magnolia had laughed and said maybe he should picking Agnès’ instead? He wondered if Tiz had bombed the proposal. Well, at the very least, he could use them as a sounding board to see if any of the ideas he already had were _too_ dramatic. They had always been very good as voices of reason.  
  
At least, that was what Ringabel thought until they showed him to the spare room (future child’s bedroom, he’d like to think) of their little house in Norende. As Tiz set down two of Ringabel’s bags and asked how much he had left to bring in, Ringabel noticed Agnès leaning over to pick up a very small figure and immediately blanked on Tiz’s question. He was solely focused on the former vestal and the porcelain doll, noting how Agnès was very mindful of how she held the doll as she took her out of the room.  
  
Annalise’s glass green eyes stared at Ringabel over Agnès’ shoulder. Had he looked away, he would have missed the instant one blinked at him.  
  
“Oh, I see you noticed Annalise,” Tiz said nonchalantly. “I happened to find her one day–”  
  
“–You don’t have to tell me, I know who she is,” Ringabel sighed. “You were supposed to be the _normal_ ones of all of us!”  
  
“Were we? Huh.” Tiz made a curious little noise, and then shrugged. “I figured that was done with the second time I died.”


End file.
